WHEREAS, the integration into the mainstream persons with disabilities as regards education, health, sports, entertainment, employment, and other aspects of human development needs to be fully implemented;

WHEREAS, there is a need to synergize efforts and resources by both public and private sectors for the promotion and improvement of well-being of persons with disabilities to enable them to be part of our nation’s development and progress.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, GLORIA MACAPAGAL-ARROYO, President of the Republic of the Philippines, by virtue of the powers vested in me by law, do hereby declare the following:

SECTION 1. December 3, 2006 and every year thereafter is hereby declared as “International Day of Persons with Disabilities in the Philippines”.

Sec. 2. The National Council for the Welfare of Disabled Persons (NCWDP) shall be the lead agency for all the activities relative to the observance of “International Day of Persons with Disabilities. in the Philippines”, with the Department of Health (DOH), Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG), and National Anti-Poverty Commission (NAPC) as partner agencies.

Sec. 3. All public and private agencies and civil society organizations (C50s) engaged in the development of persons with disabilities are hereby enjoined to maximize their efforts to help create a society that attains the full economic and social development of our disabled countrymen, par,ticularly the disadvantaged, and to support “International Day of Persons with Disabilities in the Philippines” in every year way possible so as to make the advocacy concerning the persons with disabilities more productive, lasting and meaningful.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the Republic of the Philippines to be affixed.

Done in the City of Manila, this 16th day of October, in the year of Our Lord, Two Thousand and Six.